Sigrid Rausing talks to Sophie Ratcliffe

Author and publisher Sigrid Rausing explains how she helped her dying friend, the celebrated Swedish writer Johanna Ekström, finish her final book.

Ekström asked Rausing for help as she was dying from a melanoma of the eye. Rausing transcribed and edited 13 handwritten notebooks left by Ekström. The resulting memoir was published to acclaim in Sweden. It showcases Ekström’s vivid imagination, writerly precision, and psychological insight, alongside Rausing’s sober reflections.

‘What really stays with me is the conjuring of an extraordinary friendship. Greater tenderness is hard to imagine’ Göteborgs-Posten

Ekström published her first poetry collection Skiffer at the age of 22. It was followed by 13 books in different genres including the memoirs If You Stay in the Sun and Meningarna. She was also an artist and exhibited at Gothenburg Art Museum. Rausing is the publisher of Granta magazine and Granta Books. She is also author of three previous books including Mayhem: A Memoir. She is founder of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, one of the UK’s largest philanthropic foundations. Here she talks to writer and literary critic Sophie Ratcliffe, author of The Lost Properties of Love.

Part of the Voices of Europe programme.